Line voltage derived sweep driving circuit



1953' G. H. FATHAUER ,3 2

LINE VOLTAGE DERIVED SWEEP DRIVI NG CIRCUIT Fileck Aug. 2, l54 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 w 3 3 4 E z 8' E Q Q0 Q S L.

Jan. 21, 1958 e. H. FATHAUER 2,820,922

LINE VOLTAGE DERIVED SWEEP DRIVING [CIRCUIT Filed Aug. 2, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 & g

VOLTAGE DERIVED SWEEP DRIVING I CIRCUIT George' HLFathauer; DeeatunnL, assignor to Thompson Products; Inc, Cleveland; Ohio, a'corporati'on of Ohio Application A'ugnst 2', 1954, Serial No. 447,336

4 mm,:- (GL 315- -27) This invention relates to a line-voltage derived-sweep driving circuit and more particularly to a circuit fordriv ing. the vertical sweep or scan" in a-television camera or the like in which the" drive isobtaineddirectly from a voltage derived from the alt ernatingtcurrent supply line.

To control the vertical sweep in televisioncameras, a 60 cycle wave of saw tooth configuration -is-usua11y desir ed'and it isalso desired that this-60'cycle saw tooth wave be synchronized with the 60 cycle suppIy'linevoItage orcurrent to obviate various undesirable efieetsl Ithas heretofore been'the practice to generate the 60 "cycIe saw tooth wa've from an oscillator and to then synchionize this saw tooth wave witha voltage 'ob'tainedfrom the stipp'iy' line'by controlling the oscillator. For example, the 60 cycle saw to-c-th wave may be generated through suitabiefrequency divider circuits from 'a-31.5' KC oscillater and suitable synchronizing means may be employed tor'synchrcniziti the operaticnof'the oscillator with the 60' cyclel-supply1ihevoltage. One such circuit is dis closed [in my co pefidirig application entitled Freqi 1en'cy' Stabilizing .Circnit, U. Si Sen-No." 341,526, filed"Ma rch 1953', new Patent 'No. 2,761,972. I

According to this invention, meansare provided for generating a saw tooth 'wave directly" from a voltage d'e rived from the supply .linet'o thus eliminate 'tlie'necess'ity.

forthe synchronizing circuits.

Tc o bt'ainth'esaw 'tocth wave, a capacitor may. be

graduallycharged u'p through suitable resistance means and then discharged periodicallyand abruptly under the spacedischargedevice having an anodeand a cathod'ebetween" which thecapacitor is connected, the device being normally nonconductive but being rendered conduc ti'veperi'odicall'y through positive pulse-s applied t-othe grid thereof, to discharge the capacitor.

The pulses for application to'the saw tooth" wave en eratorare developed from a signal derived from thesupply line. T he supply line signal will under ideal con.-

ditionshave atrue sine wave form and although'the wave form of the supply line signal'may varyapprecia'bly from a true sin'e'wavmit will normally be of a 'sinewave form in the sense "that'th'ere is a continuous comparatively smooth changein'arnplitudeof the signal withmo-f abrupt changes: inthe' rate of change of the amplitude of the signal.

Pulses may be obtainedfromsuch afisin'e wave signal 2,820,922 Patented Jana 21,1958

2. as'obtainedfrom a-supply line by. conductingor trans.- mitting only the positive peaks (.or negative peaks) of the signal, by-using-a clipper circuit biased at a certain level relative to the amplitude of the signal. However, with such a method,' pulses having steepleadinguand trailing edges cannot be obtained,.it is diflicult to ob tain pulses of large amplitude, and without extremely accurate control, pulses ofshortduratilon. cannot be uniformly and reliably. obtained. I I I,

According to a specific feature'of this invention, clip! pingmeans are utilized to obtain a signalfrom th e supply line signal h avinga wav'e form su'ch that'abriipt changes in thera'te of change in the"amplitude of-the signal occur in each cycle, and such a-stgnal is appliedto a d-ifirentiating' circuit" h'aving' 'an" output "varying in' accordance" with the rate of i change" of the signai input thereto. I I I I Such'clippin'g meaas'shcurdcp'erat a't' a'le'vel substanti'allylower thantlie-positive peak amplitude ofthe' stip-- ply' linesignah (or'Ishbst'antial lY higher than the negative peakafriplitude'ofthe s-ilpply' line signal) tdQbtainfan abrupt change in the rate of change of 'the 'amplitu'd'eof the" clipped signal, ana rfrabty; the clippingmeans ma c eratc 'to transmit only the positive half or only the negative half) of each cycle the rate of changeof amplitude of a sine wa've' signal being th'egrea'te'st; at the region where the polaritj "Qftht: signal changes! Most preferably, a half-waverectifienis used 'whichwillclip the signal at the optimum level.-

The diiferentiatingcirciiit mayicorr'iprise' "a resistor a capacitor connected it fseries across the" 'ont'p'uf of' the cli ping means and having a time constant that *is ten; tively short*asftocqinpared' to' 'thedifratiorf of 'onejcyctej of the supplyiline signal. With'sttbh "a circuit, apulse wilf be developed across the resistor; when "thereimn abrupt change in the" rate-ofchangecf amplitnde'of the"clip1'1ed signal. I II I I II I The pulses developed across" tlrefre'jsistor of the dif ferentiating circuit may be applied i directly" tor the saw tooth generator, b't'iti rthe rternative; they m y be ap?" plied through" a cdilplin g' ciicuit 'lctionsjtd supply gridbias forjthe space disch ge dev discharge the capacitc'ir in th" savv ftooth enerator: This" coupling-circuif'nray comprise-"a resistor and zr-cap'tcitcr connected in series" across the" resistorf of the anthem; tiating circuit. Wh'en the positive'pulse's froin tli'efdif ferenti'ating circuit are applied," the grid of the discharge may bed-riven pos e'with'respect =td thecath'ode so that curr ent may as d thiscurreht may chai'ge"upftlie capacitor of the coupling circuit with a polarity siicl'l" that the rie is maintained at a negative otential he; y o-nd cut-off-inthe time periodsbetween pulsesi This ma function to incr'ease the effective sharpness of thepulses since th 'e'" capaci'tor may be charged up in the initial portion of each pulse and the potent" l of the grid may be snarpry d'ecreased'aftei th'e ptils reachedits maxlir'itmti v Thisb -a angeniene ofi coii-i self'regiil 'aiting The timecon'startfiof the coupl iri'g' cir Gulf SliOtild be snhstantial iy gia fer 121151 1 the 'dLl'iafififi 0f 01 18 Icybl 'bf" th= supply line sig t'lflli Instead of the 'resistor-capacitor coupling=ci'1'ci1it', a fixed adjustable bias circuit maybe u'sed ifdesired'.

In accordance with a further feature of the invention; the television camermow the like may have a powertransform'en including: a primary arranged for connection? to the supply 'line 'and' a secondary winding for provid ing' the signal'for operation of the sawdo'otli wave 'gen erator, and f this 'secondary' winding. may" also serve the? function of energizing circuits I of the" camera, such the saw-tooth wave generator circuit of this inventioni' Thus, no' separat'e 'winding: is required Another feature of the 'invention' is in the phovisinnn of an impedance, preferably in the form of a resistor, in the cathode circuit of the discharge device used to discharge the capacitor of the saw-tooth wave generator, to develop a signal for blanking of the pickup tube of the camera. Since the cathode of the discharge device will have a positive pulse output at the time when the capacitor of the saw tooth generator is discharging, which is the time when blanking is desired, this cathode may be connected to the cathode of the pickup tube of the camera to provide the requisite blanking.

An object of this invention, accordingly, is to provide an improved sweep driving circuit in which a saw-tooth wave is generated directly from a voltage drive from the supply line.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved saw tooth wave generator controlled by a signal derived from a supply line.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved circuit for controlling generation of a saw tooth Wave from a sine wave signal.

This invention contemplates other objects, features and advantages which will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment and in which:

Figure 1 is a circuit diagram of a television camera incorporating the sweep driving circuit of this invention; and

Figure 2 is a graph illustrating the wave forms at certain points in the circuit in Figure 1.

Reference numeral designates a television camera pickup tube which may be of the type referred to in the art as a vidicon tube. The tube 10 may comprise an electron-emitting cathode 11, a control grid 12, and accelerating grid 13 and a focusing grid 14 for forming and focusing a beam of electrons at a target 15 on which a light image to be transmitted may be focused.

The cathode ray or electron beam may be caused to scan the target 15 by means of horizontal and vertical deflection coils 16 and 17. The horizontal deflection coils 16 may be connected to a horizontal sweep generator 18 illustrated in block form in the drawing and the vertical deflection coils 17 may be connected to a vertical sweep generator generally designated by reference numeral 20 which forms a basic feature of this invention and will be described in detail hereinafter.

The grids 12, 13 and 14 may be connected to a control circuit 21 and the target 15 may be connected to a video amplifier 22 which is also connected to the horizontal and vertical sweep generators. The output of the video amplifier may be connected to a jack 22 which may be coupled through suitable cables to a receiver, and the output of the video amplifier 22 may also be connected to a modulated oscillator 24 which may have an output connected to a jack 25. The jack 25 may be coupled to the R. F. input of an receiver in the event it is not desired to use a direct cable connection from the jack 23.

In operation, the cathode ray beam in the tube 10 scans the target 15 horizontally at a rate determined by the horizontal sweep generator and the beam scans the target vertically under control of the vertical sweep generator 20. The horizontal and vertical sweep generators 18 and 20 are connected to the video amplifier to provide synchronizing signals that are transmitted to the receiver to control horizontal and vertical sweep circuits in the receiver and the video signal developed at the target 15 is also transmitted through the video amplifier to the receiver to form at the receiver picture tube the image focused on the target 15. The horizontal repetition rate may for example be 15,750 cycles per second and the vertical repeition rate may be 60 cycles per second.

According to this invention, the vertical sweep generator 20 may act to generate the vertical sweep driving signal, which may have a saw tooth wave form, directly from a signal derived from the supply line. In particular, the vertical deflection coil 17 may be connected through a coupling capacitor 26 to the cathode 27 of a discharge device 28 also having a grid 29 and a plate or anode 30. The cathode 27 may be connected through a resistor 31 to ground and the anode 30 may be connected to a circuit point 32 at a relatively high positive potential relative to ground. A signal having a generally saw tooth wave form may be applied to the control grid 29 to generate a saw tooth wave of current in the vertical deflection coils 17 and obtain proper deflection of the cathode ray beam.

For this purpose, a capacitor 33 may have one terminal connected to a circuit point 34 which is connected through a resistor 35 to the circuit point 32 with the other terminal of the capacitor connected to ground, preferably through a rheostat 36. The capacitor 33 is gradually charged up through the rheostat 36 and resistor 35 but is periodically and properly discharged to develop a voltage of saw tooth wave form at the circuit point 34. This circuit point 34 is connected to one end of a potentiometer 37 having a movable contact 38 connected to the grid 29 with the other end of the potentiometer 37 being connected to a movable contact 39 of a potentiometer 40 connected across the cathode resistor 31. By adjustment of the movable contact 39, the bias of the device 28 may be adjusted and by adjusting the position of the movable contact 38, the magnitude of the saw tooth wave applied to the grid 29 may be adjusted so as to obtain proper deflection of the cathode ray beam.

The capacitor 33 may be periodically and abruptly discharged through means controlled directly from the supply line voltage which may preferably comprise a discharge device 41 having a control grid 42, a cathode 43 connected through a resistor 44 to ground and a plate or anode 45 connected to the circuit point 34. The device 41 may be normally biased beyond cut-otf so as to be non-conductive but may be periodically rendered conductive so as to discharge the capacitor 33.

For this purpose, a power transformer 46 may be provided having a primary winding 47 connected to a plug 48 which may be inserted in a conventional outlet to energize the primary 47. The energy may be in the form of 60 cycle alternating current, as is standard in this country. The transformer 46 also has a secondary winding 49 which may have one terminal connected to ground with its other terminal connected to a resistor 50 to a circuit point 51 which may be connected through clipping means in the form of a half-wave rectifier or diode 52 to ground. The polarity of the diode 52 may be such that when the terminal of the secondary winding 49 connected to the resistor 50 is positive, the diode 52 may conduct so that there will be a very low positive potential at the circuit point 51. When such terminal of the secondary winding 49 is negative with respect to ground, the diode 52 will not conduct and the potential of the circuit point 51 will be at a negative value equal to the negative potential of such terminal of the secondary winding 29. This signal developed at the circuit point 51 may be applied to a differentiating circuit which may comprise a capacitor 53 between the circuit point 51 and a circuit point 54 with a resistor 55 between the circuit point 54 and the ground. The circuit point 54 could be coupled directly to the grid 42 but preferably, a coupling circuit is provided including a second capacitor and resistor combination including a capacitor 56 between the circuit point 54 and the grid 42 of the device 41 and a resistor 57 between the grid 42 and ground. The resultant output across the resistor 57 may have positive peaks effective to cause conduction of the device 41 to discharge the capacitor 33. When such positive peaks are applied to the grid 42, it may become positive with respect to the cathode 43 so as to charge up the capacitor 56 with a polarity as indigees-sea cated' in the drawing so as to provide:- a: negative grid bias for the device 41. Suehbias will hold the devicey 4l in a non-conductive stateuntil the occurrence of tther-next positive peak of signal. This bias is self-regulating:

It-is believed that the operation of this circuitmayrbe. more, clearly visualized by I consideration of" the wave forms at various points in the circuit, as-illustrateddn Fig. 2. Referring thereto referencenumeralz58 -desige nates, the-wave form atthe circuit point- 51,,refere'nce; numeral 59 designates the wave form at the circuit point 54, reference-numeral 60v designates the wave form at the grid 42, and reference numeral 61;designates thezwave. form at the circuit point 34.

As illustrated by the wave form 58,only thenegative half cycles of thesine wave signal from the secondary 49 will appear at the circuit point 51. This wave form is, of course, applied to the capacitor 53' and the resistor 55 in series and the voltage at the circuit point 54 may have a form such as illustrated by the wave form 59'in"wh ich positive peaks 62 appear at the ends'of the negative half cycles, which is caused by the fact that the rate of change of voltage at-the point-51changes at this time, from a relatively high value to approximately zero. The'positive peaks 62 could be utilized to directly control conduction of the device 41, but preferably the wave form 59 is applied to the capacitor 56 and resistor 57 in series with the grid 42 connected to the junction between the capacitor 56 and resistor 57. The wave form at the grid 42 may be as designated by reference numeral 60 in Figure 2 and may comprise very sharp positive peaks. Such positive peaks cause the capacitor 33 to be discharged very rapidly, and the wave form at the circuit point 34 may be as designated by reference numeral 61 in Figure 2. The trapezoidal form of the wave form 61 is caused by the provision of the rheostat 36 between the capacitor 33 and ground, this wave form being preferable for generating a saw tooth wave of current in the inductive deflection coil 16. The linearity may be adjusted by adjusting the rheostat 36.

As noted above, the capacitor 56 is charged up to provide bias for the device 41 and as shown in Figure 2, the voltage at the grid 42 swings positive only at the positive peaks. The cut-ofi bias for the device 41 may be at a level as designated by reference numeral 64 so that the device 41 is biased beyond cut-ofl except when the positive peaks are applied thereto. It may be noted that because of the self-regulating action of this bias arrangement, it is not only insured that the device 41 will be biased beyond cut-off between the positive pulses but the arrangement insures that the grid 42 will be driven positive with respect to the cathode 43 during the pulses so as to obtain a high conduction through the device 41 and a rapid discharge of the capacitor 33.

According to a specific feature of the invention, the secondary 49 not only develops a signal for controlling generation of the vertical sweep driving signal, but may also supply power for energization of the vertical sweep circuit and other circuits of the television camera. For this purpose, the terminal of the secondary winding 49 that is connected to the resistor 50 may be connected through a rectifier 65 and through a filtering choke 66 to the circuit point 32. The opposite ends of the filtering choke 66 may be connected to capacitors 67 and 68 to ground, the choke 66 cooperating with the capacitor 67 and 68 to provide a filtered D. C. voltage at the circuit point 32. This voltage may be applied to the control circuit 21, the video amplifier 22, the horizontal sweep generator 13 and the modulated oscillator 24, in addition to its connection to the vertical sweep generator 20.

According to a further specific feature of the invention, the cathode 43 of the device 41 may be connected to the cathode 11 of the pickup tube to provide blanking during vertical retrace. The voltage at the cathode 43 will, of course be positive during discharge of the capacitor 33, at a time when the retrace of the cathode ray'b'eam invth'ertube 10 -istaking:place. By: applying this-:positivevoltage" to: the cathode ll'of. the tube 10, the tub'ewill be-cut-oif during this-time; The'positive pulseoutputat thecathodec43'mayaalso be 'connected. to the videoamplifi'er 22-toProvide synchronization pulses tobeetransmitted-tO the'receiver tocontrol the vertical sweep, at the receiver;

It will, accordingly; beureadilyappreeiated'that this invention provides a sweep driving-circuit which is very simpleand readily constructed from a minimum number of' component parts, which-isveryretficient and reliable in operation, and which eliminates the "necessity for frequency dividing circuits andsynchronizing; circuits heretoforeemployed.

It will be understood that fmodificationsand variations maybe effected without departing: from the-spirit and scopeof the novel concepts of the present invention.

Iclairn as my invention:

1. Ina cathode ray tube circuit including a cathode ray-tube having a-cat-hode, atargct' and a pair of deflection means for sweepingsaid-target with a cathode ray beam from. the cathode, a sweep generator, comprising: alternatingcurrent supply means; a rectifier connected to said alternating current supply means to develop a pulsating direct current; means for filtering said pulsating current to develop a substantially constant voltage; a capacitor; series resistance means for connecting said capacitor to said constant voltage; a discharge device having at least a cathode, an anode and a control grid; means for connecting said anode to said capacitor; a clipping rectifier connected to said alternating current supply means to transmit only the negative half cycle of the alternating current; at least one diiferentiating circuit connected to the output of said clipping rectifier to develop a sharp positive pulse during each cycle of the alternating current; means for applying said positive pulses to said control grid to cause said discharge device to periodically conduct and discharge said capacitor, and means for coupling said capacitor to one of said deflection means.

2. In a cathode ray tube circuit including a cathode ray tube having a cathode, a target and a pair of deflection means for sweeping said target with a cathode ray beam from the cathode, a sweep generator, comprising: alternating current supply means; a rectifier connected to said alternating current supply means to develop a pulsating direct current; means for filtering said pulsating current to develop a substantially constant voltage; a capacitor; series resistance means for connecting said capacitor to said constant voltage; a discharge device having at least a cathode, an anode and a control grid; means for connecting said anode to said capacitor; a clipping rectifier connected to said alternating current supply means to transmit only the negative half cycle of the alternating current; a first differentiating circuit connected to the output of said clipping rectifier to develop a sharp positive pulse during each cycle of the alternating current; a second difierentiating circuit connected to the output of said first ditferentiating circuit to increase the sharpness of said positive pulses; means for applying the output of said second differentiating circuit to said control grid to cause said discharge device to periodically conduct and discharge said capacitor; and means for coupling said capacitor to one of said deflection means.

3. In a cathode ray tube circuit including a cathode ray tube having a cathode, a target and a pair of deflection means for sweeping said target with a cathode ray beam from the cathode, a sweep generator, comprising: alternating current supply means; a rectifier connected to said alternating current supply means to develop a pulsating direct current; means for filtering said pulsating current to develop a substantially constant voltage; a capacitor; series resistance means for connecting said capacitor to said constant voltage; a discharge device having at least a cathode, an anode and a control grid; means for connecting said anode to said capacitors; a clipping rectifier connected to said alternating current supply means to transmit only the negative half cycle of the alternating current; a differentiating circuit connected to the output of said clipping rectifier and including a first resistor and a first capacitor connected in series; a coupling including a second resistor and a second capacitor connected in series across said first resistor; means coupling to said control grid the signal developed across said second resistor to cause said discharge device to periodically conduct and discharge said capacitor, and means for coupling said capacitor to one of said deflection means.

4. In a cathode ray tube circuit including a cathode ray tube having a cathode, a target and a pair of deflection means for sweeping said target with a cathode ray beam from the cathode, a sweep generator, comprising: alternating current supply means; a rectifier connected to said alternating current supply means to develop a pulsating direct current; means for filtering said pulsating current to develop a substantially constant voltage; a capacitor; series resistance means for connecting said capacitor to said constant voltage; a discharge device having at least a cathode, an anode and a control grid; means for connecting said anode to said capacitor; a clipping rectifier connected to said alternating current supply means to transmit only the negative half cycle of the alternating current, at least one differentiating circuit connected to the output of said clipping rectifier to d velop a sharp positive pulse during each cycle of the alternating current, means for applying said positive pulses to said control grid to cause said discharge device to periodically conduct and discharge said capacitor; and a connection between said cathode of said device and the cathode of the cathode ray tube for blanking said cathode ray tube during discharge of said capacitor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,222,943 George Nov. 26, 1940 2,224,587 Bahring Dec. 10, 1940 2,265,780 Schlesinger Dec. 9, 1941 2,383,333 Milward Aug. 21, 1945 2,424,999 Ostlund et al. Aug. 5, 1947 2,592,133 Firestone et al Apr. 8, 1952 2,686,263 Konick Aug. 10, 1954 

